How to Be a Good Interviewer

So, you need to interview someone, and you want to do a great job. Maybe it’s your first time writing a profile, or you're asking someone to be your mentor or maybe you’ve been doing it for a while with less than happy results. Maybe you’ve had your own terrible interviews and want to make sure you don’t inflict that on someone else — or get turned off of interviewing all together. Here’s a quick listen on how to be a good journalistic interviewer.

1. Don’t wing it.

A startling number of journalists don’t prepare much for interviews other than a simple google search. They might read a press release or profile’s bio for the first time a few minutes before the interview, and they don’t put much time into figuring out what to look for and how to do that. Instead, they rely on informal, off-the-cuff conversations, which lead them to make incorrect claims off of their gut feeling than on any kind of rigorous research.

To interview well, you’ll need to put real thought and time into what you’re looking to get from an interview and how you’ll write it out.

2. Ask basic questions.

Once you’ve figured out what you want to ask your profile, you’ll have a starting point for questions, but it’s crucial that you don’t see that list as your complete interview script. To interview well, you’ll need to start from the beginning and go beyond surface answers to explore how a profile thinks and operates. To do that, you’re going to need to listen to what they say and ask a lot of follow-up questions based on what you hear. For example: “X sounds like it would have been a challenge — how did you overcome that?” “Was it successful?” “How do you operate as a leader?” “What happens on a regular day?” “What would you do differently if you were doing it again?”

3. Put people at ease.

Interviews are inherently high-pressure situations, but it’s in your best interests to put people at ease as much as possible. To give yourself the best chance of getting an accurate sense of their personality, you should be warm and friendly and try to lower some of the pressure. Look people straight in the eye and respond with your face as they answer the questions. Sometimes it's good to lean in and smile as if you're talking to the most important person in the world.

4. Don’t ask silly interview questions.

If you’re following the advice above, hopefully you’re not going to ask mindless questions like “If you were an animal, what kind would you be?” or “What song would you sing on American's Got Talent?” But in case you’re tempted, let me say in clear terms: Don’t do it. These questions are irrelevant and they’ll irritate good profiles.

5. Know that bias is a real thing — and work to combat it.

As a journalist, you have a responsibility to actively work to combat bias in yourself and your voice. Most of us are drawn to profiles who remind us of ourselves or whom we’d feel comfortable getting a glass of wine with, but this can blind you to people’s weaknesses. And unsurprisingly, this is how magazines end up with homogenous content with little diversity.

6. Commit to truth in reporting.

It’s natural to want to present your publication in the best light, but it’s crucial that interviewees have a thorough and realistic understanding of what they are being interviewed for. Resist any temptation to play up the article. Most reporters have no idea when an article will run and exactly how much space is being utilized to publish your article. Tell the truth.

7. Remember interviewees are assessing you as much as you’re assessing them.

Some journalists approach interviewing as if they hold all the cards and will treat each interview in ways they’d never treat, say a friend — like starting the interview late, checking social media and interrupting, or being dismissive or even uninterested. But good interviewees have options and many interviews to complete after yours, so they’ll be assessing you right back. They’ll pay attention to things like how respectfully you treat them, whether you’re focused on them and what they're saying or distracted, how interested you are in asking thoughtful questions. So, as you’re deciding which interview to choose, don’t forget the interviewee must choose you as well.